


Tales from the Wreckedverse

by HiddenDirector



Series: The Wreckedverse [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Mech Preg, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sparklings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-01-22 21:51:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12491620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenDirector/pseuds/HiddenDirector
Summary: Stories from across the timeline of First Aid Gets Wrecked.  Events range from before, during, and after the course of the events of that story.  Will mostly revolve around the main cast of FAGW (First Aid, Impactor, Appulse, etc.), but there will be chapters dedicated to a wide range of characters and what they've been doing.  PLEASE READ "FIRST AID GETS WRECKED" IF YOU WANT TO READ THIS.  You will get VERY confused, otherwise.Rated "E" for later chapters.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The different stories in this won't necessarily be in chronological order, but I'll make sure to put in the chapter notes when each takes place if it's not readily apparent. I will be taking requests and suggestions for what will be happening in each chapter, though it will be at my own discretion whether or not it will work in the Wreckedverse. Any requests or suggestions I use I will credit to whoever left it, though.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 - First Aid deals with carrying at Delphi. Pharma isn't too thrilled, but besides Ambulon he gets support from a surprising place.

To say that Pharma hadn’t been happy when he found out about First Aid’s ‘condition’ was an understatement.  The young medic and Ambulon had decided to tell him as soon as possible, as hiding it would have caused more problems than solutions.  When they were done explaining the situation (minus the kinky details), they waited for his response.

Pharma, to his credit, kept quite calm through it all.  He shuttered his optics, pinching the bridge of his prominent olfactory sensor as if warding off a processor-ache.  That was probably exactly what he felt like he had.  “We are the only three medics in a facility _no one_ else wants to work at, let alone go to, in the _aft-end_ of nowhere…” he grumbled.  When he looked up at the sheepish mech, seeing him finally seemed to fray away the last reserves of his patience.  “ _How_ did you manage to get _knocked up_ by the _only_ patient from off-planet we’ve had in literally _millennia_?!”

First Aid flinched at every emphasized word, feeling like he grew smaller the more he was berated.  “I’m sorry…” was all he managed, looking at the desk instead of his boss.

Pharma either didn’t hear him or didn’t care.  He leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling.  “Alright.  It’s done, there’s no going back.  So… options.  Sparkling termination…”

“No.”

Pharma actually stopped and looked to First Aid again.  He hadn’t expected how quickly the answer came, nor how sharp it was.  He truly meant it.  “It would be easier than the other options,” he reminded him.

“No termination,” First Aid repeated, now looking directly into Pharma’s optics.  There was a fire there that he’d never seen before.  Determination.  _Protectiveness._

Frag.

“Alright, not termination,” Pharma ex-vented.  “Carrying the sparkling to term here likely isn’t the best of them, but I don’t see how we have many choices.”

“What about sending him back to Cybertron?” Ambulon spoke up.

Pharma looked at him incredulously.  “Do you realize how much paperwork will be involved for _all of us_ if that happens?  He’ll have to register his… _condition_ and the sparkling with the government, I’ll have to put in for a new medic, and you’ll have to carry both of your work with only the two of us here.  First Aid staying here may not be the best option, but it’s better than that.”

“I don’t want to leave,” First Aid insisted.  “I want to stay here.”

Ambulon nodded to him.  “If that’s what you want.”

Pharma looked between them.  He then leaned forward again, lacing his servos together.  “Fine then, but things will have to change.”

First Aid and Ambulon looked at each other, then back to the flier.  They suspected such a thing, but they didn’t know exactly what would happen.

“First Aid, I’m going to have to finally go through with the demotion,” the Chief Medical Officer announced.

“What?!” the young medic yelped.

“I was already considering it,” Pharma explained, not giving him a chance to object.  “With the recent evaluation you went through with Rung, I now have reason to think it best.  He was concerned with your infatuation with the Wreckers, and obviously this is evidence he had every right to be.  Besides that, if I don’t lessen your duties then I’ll have to fully let you go for creator leave.  I can’t afford that.  As I said before, we are the only three medics here.”

First Aid lowered his optics again, understanding.  There’d been a time when there were more medics in Delphi.  In fact, there was at least a dozen.  But the unsafe location and increasingly strict hand of Pharma caused them to abandon the post one after one.  Word spread fast on Cybertron, likely, because no one else volunteered to come to Messatine.  No one blamed them.  It left only First Aid and Ambulon, who both felt some modicum of loyalty to Pharma and refused to just up and leave him to man it on his own.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on your condition, of course,” Pharma continued.  “Ambulon, do you have any experience with sparkbirth?”

“No,” the former Decepticon answered.

The CMO grunted in annoyance.  “Very well, I suppose I’ll have to give you a crash-course in helping with a live sparkbirth.”

“You’ve done it?” First Aid couldn’t help but ask in surprise.

Pharma shrugged.  “There was a time when all medics had to be trained in it.  As they’ve become rarer, it became a specialized field instead of something any available medic could perform.  I conducted a few in my day.”  He picked up a datapad from the desk and held it out to First Aid.  “I want you to take this to the front office and record everything you remember about your… encounter with Impactor.  We may not be calling this into Cybertron but I still need a record here.”

The demoted medic nodded lightly, taking the datapad.  He turned and left without another word, not sure what else there was to say anyway.

“You’re taking this a lot better than I thought you would,” Ambulon spoke up as soon as First Aid was gone.  “Your initial reaction notwithstanding.”

“What’s done is done,” Pharma huffed.  “Me complaining about it isn’t going to change anything.  All we can do at this point is help with the sparkbirth and then hope whatever Pit-spawn is born from that unholy union doesn’t get in our way.”  He pulled another datapad out and started tapping at it.  “What do _you_ think of this development?”

Ambulon looked to him, then looked thoughtful.  “I think… First Aid is going to need our support.  He’s scared, and unsure of what’s going to happen.  He’s convinced Impactor will come back.”

The red, blue, and white flier actually snorted at that.  “Oh, that’s rich,” he chuckled darkly.  “That scrap-maker is long gone by now.  Good riddance.  I didn’t like having him here, anyway.”

The former Decepticon ex-vented and shook his helm.  Pharma used to be so much more personable back when he came to Delphi.  The stress of running such an obviously abandoned facility was probably getting to him.  “I’m going to get back to the front desk in case any accidents happen at the mine or something.”

“You do that.”

 

\-----

 

“Hey, nurse!”

First Aid cringed but didn’t stop.  He kept walking down the hall, determined to deliver the samples he was carrying to the lab.

“You can’t ignore a patient!  I need your help!”

The young medic stopped his stride, looking up at the ceiling and ex-venting.  He turned around, looking at the miner who had been calling to him.  It wasn’t just him, though.  There were two sticking their helms out of the doorway of one of the rooms.

“Is there something you needed?” First Aid asked as patiently as possible.

“Primus, mech,” the one on the left ogled.  “You weren’t kidding.  One of the docs got himself knocked up.”

First Aid’s visor twitched.  He glanced down at himself.  It was now two weeks into his carrying, and it showed noticeably.  It was the consequence of the sire of the sparkling growing inside of him being a tank much larger than himself.  His midsection was bulging quite a bit, and he wasn’t even close to giving sparkbirth.  He looked back at the miners.  “Is there something you needed?” he repeated, a little more forcefully this time.

“Yeah, sorry,” the one on the right at least _tried_ to sound sincere.  “Uh… can you get us each a glass of low-grade?  We need to top off a little.”

“I’ll bring that right down as soon as I’m done with this,” First Aid nodded, turning to return to his job.

As the medic walked away, though, he couldn’t help but overhear them whispering to each other.  “You see how big that thing was?”

“Shut up, Axel, you’re gonna get us in trouble.”

First Aid ignored them as best he could, entering the lab and putting the samples down.  He looked down at himself again, placing his hands on his carrying belly.  He could feel the warmth of the developing sparkling inside of him.  He couldn’t imagine what he was going to look like by the time it was done developing, though.  If they were whispering down the halls now, wait until he was a week away.

“Hey, First Aid.”

The young medic looked up and saw Ambulon enter the room.  “Oh, hi,” he said lightly.

“Something wrong?” the painted orange medic asked, walking over.  “You look a bit down.  You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”  He walked over and put a hand on First Aid’s shoulder.

The younger mech stared at him a moment before breaking out into a light laugh.

“What?” Ambulon asked, pulling his hand back in confusion.  “What’s so funny?”

“This is so weird,” First Aid chuckled.  “Usually I’m asking you if _you’re_ okay, because you always look so melancholy.”

Ambulon tilted his helm to the side indignantly, but then smiled just a bit.  “Strange times, isn’t it?” he mused.  He then went serious.  “In more ways than one.  Pharma locked himself in his office again.  Every time we lose another patient he does that.  I think he’s starting to get depressed by how many patients are dying in our care lately.”

First Aid looked thoughtful as well.  “I’ve been thinking about that.  Pharma is a professional.  We all are, but he’s one of the best.  We shouldn’t be losing so many patients.”

“You’re not suggesting there’s something fishy going on, are you?” Ambulon asked, lowering his vocals.  “It has been a few more than usual, but they’ve all checked out on the post-mortem autopsies.”

“I know,” First Aid nodded, looking away from him.  “I don’t know… maybe my carrying is making me paranoid.”  He then shook his helm.  “Sorry, I need to get back to work.  The patients in room 24-C are asking for low-grade.  Excuse me.”

When First Aid brought the tray of low-grade to 24-C, he found the two patients waiting on their repair berths.  Both had been caught in a minor accident at the mines.  Nothing serious, just some repair work that needed to be conducted and then monitored for the day before they could be sent back.

“Well, hey again, nurse!” the one who called him before – Axel – greeted.  He grinned at the young medic.

“Ignore the idiot,” the other one grunted.  First Aid glanced at his chart as he passed the berth.  His name was apparently Circuit.  “Thanks for the fuel.”

“Don’t worry about it,” First Aid said amicably, handing them both their drinks.

Axel put his back pretty immediately.  He vented loudly afterwards, nodding to First Aid’s middle.  “You got wrecked pretty good, didn’t you?”

“Axel!” Circuit snapped, glaring at him.  He looked to First Aid apologetically.  “Primus, please don’t mind him.  He’s the reason we miners get a bad reputation.”

“Well, me and Megatron.  Different reasons, though,” Axel joked.

First Aid actually chuckled at that.  “It’s alright.  I’ve been here long enough to be used to all of you,” he said.  “I’m getting used to people staring at… well…”  He placed his hands on his midsection again.

“Most of us probably never would have seen a carrier outside of this.  We’re all pretty curious,” Circuit admitted, finishing off his fuel and setting the glass aside.  “Uh… I know it’s probably rude, but… can I…?”  For such a large, imposing mech, he was polite.  Maybe even a little bit shy.

“As long as you’re careful,” First Aid nodded, stepping closer to him.  He had been asked a few times, though he hadn’t said yes until now.  Circuit seemed much gentler than the rest of the rough-and-tumble miners, though.

The miner slid off the berth and knelt on the floor in front of him.  He placed his hands gently on First Aid’s swollen belly.  “Whoa… that’s so…” he muttered, looking up at First Aid.  “This is _amazing_.  I can feel its warmth.”

The self-consciousness First Aid was feeling earlier began to melt at the words.  It was strangely comforting, having Circuit be so much more courteous than most of the others had been about his carrying.  Perhaps it was because Circuit was a miner, something he shared in common with Impactor at one point.  While he was a different make of miner than Impactor, he was around the same build.  Much friendlier, though.

“Hey, can I-?” Axel started.

“No,” First Aid answered before he could finish.  Axel had been nothing but rude since he got there.  He didn’t deserve to put his hands anywhere near First Aid, let alone on his developing sparkling.

“That’s not-”

“Axel,” Circuit hissed at him warningly.  “Don’t be an aft.”

“Fine,” Axel grumbled, sitting back on his berth.  After a moment, he asked, “Is it true it was the mech who crashed a couple weeks ago that did that to you?”

“Primus, Axel…” Circuit muttered, standing up.  He sat back on his own berth.

“It’s okay,” First Aid raised a hand.  “It’s true.  He did.”

“Then it’s also true he just left you here,” Axel persisted.

This time First Aid didn’t answer.  He looked at the ground.  He hated how often he was reminded of that fact.  “He’ll come back,” he said for what felt like the millionth time.

“I’m sure he will,” Circuit assured him.

First Aid looked at him in surprise.  He looked so earnest about the statement, which the medic wasn’t used to.  Everyone else either told him he was kidding himself, or kept humoring him but they didn’t really mean it.  He smiled.  “Thank you.”

 

\-----

 

Another two weeks and First Aid was starting to feel tired more often than usual.  It was probably because he was carrying someone’s sparkling who was so much bigger than himself.  His midsection was officially too large for some of his usual tasks at the medical facility, so he was assigned to the front desk.  It was easy work.  Monitor communications in case the mines sent an emergency call.  Make sure all of their files were up-to-date.  Accept any new patients, help, and instruct them best he could.

“Morning, First Aid!” Circuit’s cheery voice called as he walked through the doors.  Axel followed close behind.  First Aid rarely saw the two parted from each other.  “How’re you doing today?”

“As well as can be expected,” First Aid replied, putting the files he was going through down.  “You’re not checking in, are you?  We just patched Axel up earlier this week.  He’s more accident-prone than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Axel grinned, leaning on the counter.  “Boss-bot gave us our requisite once-in-a-while day off.  We just wanted to see how you were holding up.  Got another couple’a weeks before you’ve got a new addition.  Your sparkling gets any bigger before then, we’re not gonna find you under all that belly.”

 “Ha-ha,” First Aid said dryly.  “Try not to cut yourself on that wit, Axel.”

“The further into this carry, the more sarcastic you get,” Circuit laughed.

First Aid was about to answer, but Pharma’s vocals cut over them.  “Is this what you call work, First Aid?” the head medic sneered.  He walked over, but stopped a good distance from the trio.  “Those two better be checking in.  Because otherwise, this looks a bit unfortunately like you’re slacking.”

“Hey, we were just checking in on-” Axel started.

“Does this _look_ like a social area?” Pharma cut him off.  “If you two aren’t patients or visiting some, then you shouldn’t _be_ here.”

Circuit put a hand on Axel’s shoulder before he could say something he’d regret.  “I’m sorry, we’ll be going, then,” he reasoned.  Before they did, though, he turned to First Aid.  “Comm us when you’re off.  We’ll sit down and talk all you want.”

First Aid nodded lightly.  “Sure, I’ll do that,” he murmured.  He watched them go, not looking at Pharma.  Still, he said to him, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t know they were coming.”

“I should hope not,” Pharma sniffed.  “Despite your poor life choices, I expect better from you than to socialize during your work hours.  I have patients to attend to.  Don’t make me have to come back over here and make sure you’re still working.”

First Aid nodded again.  “Yes, Pharma.”

The flier turned on his heelstrut and marched away.

The younger medic finally turned the direction he went, staring at the space he used to be in.  Ambulon had been right those two weeks ago.  Pharma was getting more and more moody and snippy.  He was never the most casual of ‘bots, but he wasn’t usually that outright horrible to people.  They were losing more patients lately, as well.

First Aid ex-vented and turned back to his work.  He could discuss his concerns about it with Ambulon later.

The rest of the day passed without further incident, and First Aid commed Circuit and Axel like he said he would.  They met him outside of the clinic and walked with him back to the dormitories where he stayed.  He couldn’t transform in his condition, so he appreciated that they were patient with him.

The three settled down after he grabbed some fuel for them.

Axel wasted no time in proving his lack of filter.  “So, is it just me, or has Pharma turned into the glitchiest little aft lately?”

“I’d usually yell at him for talking about your boss that way in front of you, but he’s not wrong,” Circuit added, turning to First Aid.  “Is everything okay?  He’s not overworking you or anything, is he?”

First Aid chuckled and shook his helm.  “No, I’m fine.  I think he’s just feeling overworked himself because of how little help we have.  And with me on light duty…”  He didn’t tell them about his suspicions.  Being as the miners relied on them, he couldn’t risk word that Pharma may not be trustworthy.

“If you say so, ‘Aid,” Axel muttered, though he didn’t sound convinced.  He had the foresight to change the subject, though.  “So, what’ve you been doing to keep yourself occupied?”

“Oh, you know…” First Aid popped his mask open, taking a drink from the glass he held.  He avoided their gazes.  “This and that…”  He didn’t want to admit he’d been staying up browsing the Autopedia and Wreckers forums for any sighting people could report of Impactor.  So far no luck.

Circuit and Axel looked at each other, then back at him.  Circuit stood up and moved over to sit back down next to First Aid.  He put a hand on his shoulder.  “You know you can talk to us, right?  I know we’ve only been friends a couple of weeks, but we want to be here for you.”

First Aid reset his optics in surprise as the soft-spoken miner.  “You… do?”

“Of course we do!” Axel grinned as he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chestplate.  “You see the kinds of people around here?  Mostly miners, supervisors, and inspectors.  Pit, even the medics besides you are kind of hardafts.  You’re something special on this aft-end of nowhere rock.”

The red and white medic looked between them.  “I… I had no idea you guys felt like that about me.”

“He doesn’t say it very elegantly, but it’s true,” Circuit smiled.  “You’re one of a kind, First Aid.  You deserve better than to be stuck on Messatine with us miners and a boss that’s slowly getting so stressed he’s taking it out on you.  Especially with a little one on the way.”  He placed a gentle hand on First Aid’s expanding middle.

First Aid stared at him a moment before breaking into a smile as well.  “Thank you.  Both of you.  Between you and Ambulon, I’m feeling a lot better about my decision to stay here instead of going back to Cybertron to have this sparkling.”

“Don’t worry about it,” the miner sitting next to him wrapped his arm around his shoulders, bringing him into a one-armed hug.  “We’ll watch both of you until Impactor comes back.  Everything’s going to be fine, you’ll see.”

 

-

 

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

Axel and Circuit walked back to the miners’ dormitories after their time with First Aid together.  The medic said he needed to recharge more lately, so he asked to be left alone early.

“Encourage him,” Axel elaborated.  “You’re usually the smart one between us, remember?  You can’t actually believe Impactor of all ‘bots is actually going to come back.”

Circuit looked up at the sky above their home – the only home they were created for – and ex-vented.  “I _wanna_ believe it, Axel.  And I want First Aid to believe it, too.  I’m not just the smart one,” he grinned, punching his best friend in the arm.  “I’m the optimist, too.  I like to believe a little in everyone.”

“Soft-aft,” Axel laughed, shoving the slightly larger miner back.  “Whatever happens, we meant it, right?  We’re gonna take care of them.”

“Best we can,” Circuit nodded.  “Much as I like Ambulon, it’s gonna take a lot more than the two of them to raise a sparkling.”

“You say that like we know anything about sparklings,” the other miner scoffed.

“It’ll only be a sparkling for three weeks,” Circuit reasoned.  “How hard can it be?”

 

-

 

Ambulon knocked on First Aid’s door, knowing the younger medic would still be awake.  He was aware the soon-to-be creator had been staying up far later than he should have been lately.

Sure enough, First Aid opened the door a few moments later and let him inside.  “I was just about to hit the berth,” he said as he led Ambulon to the sitting area of his small living quarters.

“Mmhm,” Ambulon snorted.  “First Aid, you recharge less than I do.  And I have a chronic problem with it.  Did I see those two miners you’ve been spending time with leave?”

“Yeah, they’ve been keeping me company when we haven’t been working,” the carrier affirmed, bringing some fuel over for Ambulon.  He already was completely topped off after Axel and Circuit’s visit, so he didn’t need any.  “I’ve been surprised.  Most of the miners seem to ignore us over here unless they need something.  Axel and Circuit are very nice.”

“You’re sure they don’t have unsavory intentions?”

“What?!” First Aid started at the question, staring at Ambulon.  “What would even make you ask that?”

“You’ve only really known them a couple of weeks.  I don’t want to see you or the bitlet you’re carrying get hurt by them,” Ambulon insisted.

“They don’t have any bad intentions,” First Aid huffed.  “I appreciate your concern, but could you not be so suspicious?  They’ve been super nice.”

“Alright, alright,” Ambulon backed off, not wanting to upset First Aid when he was so close to giving sparkbirth.

“I’m more worried about Pharma,” the younger medic said lightly, looking at the floor and playing with his servos.  “I don’t want to think anything bad about him, either.  But he’s getting worst, and we’re still losing patients.  What if it’s all connected?”

“Not this again,” Ambulon ex-vented.  “Why would Pharma be killing off patients?  What purpose would he have for that?”

“I’m not saying he is!” First Aid said quickly, though even he didn’t sound completely sure of that.  “I’m just saying… what if they’re connected?”

“These are some serious accusations,” Ambulon warned him.  “If you’re going to suspect him of anything, I suggest you find some proof, first.  If you can find something solid, even I’ll have to believe you.  But until then, I’m going to keep doing my job.  Seriously, what’s with all of these things between us that seem so… backwards?”

“I don’t know,” First Aid admitted.  He leaned on the arm of the chair he sat in, thinking.  He then shook his helm.  “I really don’t know.  I think I really should get some recharge, though.”

“Alright,” Ambulon conceded, though he’d wanted to stay and talk longer.  He was worried about First Aid, though it was hard for him to admit it out loud.  Instead, he finished off his fuel and placed the glass to the side, standing up.  “I’ll get out of your way, then.  But you promise you’re actually going to berth and not staying up on the Wrecker forums?  And don’t think I don’t know that’s what you’ve been doing.”

First Aid cringed a bit, but nodded.  “I promise.  As soon as you’re gone it’s straight to berth for me.  I’m going to need as much recharge as I can get with this little one on the way.”  He placed his hands on his midsection.

“Definitely,” Ambulon nodded, placing a hand on his helm.  “I have a feeling things are going to be getting a lot more hectic around here.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Aid finally gives birth. The first two weeks of Appulse's sparklinghood are glimpsed at. Also, a small look at Pharma's decaying mental state.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm having more fun creating new characters than anything else. Don't blame me, blame the setting. We never met too many people on Messatine during the Delphi arc.

“Megatron or Optimus Prime?”

Circuit nearly spat out his fuel, looking at Axel incredulously.  “Are you insane?” he snapped.  “You’re gonna get us both in trouble, saying stuff like that!”  The two were currently on a break, hanging out and refueling outside of the mine.  Other miners passed by the two on their way in and out, but otherwise paid them no mind.

“Come on, you said I could say _anyone_ ,” Axel grinned at his larger friend.  “Who would you rather frag?  Megatron or Optimus Prime?”

Circuit groaned and leaned back against the wall.  After a moment, he said, “Fine.  Optimus Prime.  I mean… you’d have to be completely glitched to say Megatron.”  He looked at Axel, whose grin only widened.  “Oh, Primus, Axel…” he groaned.

“Hey, don’t tell me you wouldn’t at least be _tempted_ ,” the smaller miner defended himself.  “I mean, sure Prime is a good mech.  But there’s about a kajillion good mechs out there.  How often would you get the chance to say you fragged a genocidal tyrant?”

“I don’t know why I hang out with you sometimes…” Circuit muttered, rolling his optics.  “Alright, fine.  In that case, Starscream or-” The larger miner was interrupted by his comm going off.  It was a frequency he didn’t recognize.  He answered cautiously.  “Hello?  This is Circuit.”

“Oh, good, this was the right frequency,” a familiar voice emerged.

“Wait… Ambulon, right?” Circuit said, looking at Axel.  The other miner raised an optic ridge.  “How’d you get this frequency?”

“First Aid had it written down on a datapad on his desk,” Ambulon answered.  “That’s not important right now.  I just figured, since you and your friend have become friends with First Aid… well, he’s gone into labor.”

“Wait, _what?!_ ” Circuit yelped, standing up.

“What?  What happened?” Axel asked, standing as well.  He sounded worried.

Circuit raised a hand to silence him.  “Why are you telling us this?” he wondered.

“Pharma said that once he’s given sparkbirth it would be beneficial if people who cared about him were present,” Ambulon said.  He sounded uncomfortable, like he wasn’t sure if he should be saying what he was.  “And you two are really the only friends he’s made here, so… I thought you might want to be here when his sparkling is born.”

“Really?  I mean… yeah!  We’ll be there as quick as possible!” the miner replied.  He disconnected from the comm, looking at Axel in wonder.

“What’s going on?  Don’t leave me hanging, mech!” the smaller miner demanded, grabbing Circuit by the arms and shaking him.  “Did something happen to First Aid?!”

“He’s giving sparkbirth,” Circuit finally managed, breaking into a smile.  “First Aid’s sparkling is being born!”

Axel stared at him back a moment, before breaking into a laugh.  “You’re kidding!  Frag, I can’t believe it’s already time!”

Circuit nodded quickly, grabbing Axel by the hand and dragging him stumbling in the direction of Delphi before the smaller mech got his footing and followed of his own accord.  “Come on, Ambulon said he wants us to be there to support him!” he continued.

“Well, then, what are we waiting for?” Axel whooped, transforming into his vehicle mode.  “Last one to the clinic is a glitched turbofox!”

“Afthole!” Circuit laughed, transforming as well and taking off after him.

They were abandoning their work, as they were expected back shortly.  But at the moment they didn’t care.  First Aid was more important.

 

-

 

When the two had arrived at Delphi, Circuit commed Ambulon quickly to check on what room they were in.  After being told quickly, as the former Decepticon was currently in the middle of the sparkbirthing procedure and needed to concentrate, the miners made their way over and found two chairs waiting outside of the room.  They sat down and started the hardest part.

The waiting.

They hadn’t realized how long sparkbirth would take, and for nearly an hour they sat outside of the door.

“Starscream,” Axel suddenly said as they waited.

“What?” Circuit looked at him in confusion.

“Before Ambulon called, you said ‘Starscream or…’  It doesn’t matter who the other person is, the answer is Starscream.”

Circuit stared at him a moment before ex-venting.  “Why do you want to frag Decepticons so badly?” he asked in exasperation.

“Can’t help it,” Axel grinned, leaning back and folding his hands behind his helm.  “I like bad mechs.”

“There’s a difference between ‘bad’ mechs and psychopaths,” Circuit muttered.

Axel shrugged, but didn’t deny it.  He was too antsy to think of a witty comeback.

Time seemed to crawl as the pair waited in the hall.  They weren’t sure if the soundproof room would have been better or worse if they could actually hear what was going on.  Being ‘bots that were constructed for manual labor, they didn’t know what a sparkbirth entailed.  What stories they’d heard made them think it had to be painful, and probably messy.  They tried to make small talk with each other, but for the first time in the millennia they’d worked together they couldn’t think of anything to talk about.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the door opened.

Ambulon walked out and stopped, seeming surprised.  Perhaps he’d never actually expected to see Circuit and Axel sitting there.  After a moment he remembered why he came out and reset his vocals.  “Circuit, Axel,” he greeted shortly.  “Thank you for coming.  It will mean a lot to First Aid that you’re here.”

The miners stood up, stepping towards him.  They were so much larger than him that he actually tensed.  “Can we see him?” Circuit asked nervously.

The painted orange medic nodded, stepping away from the door.  “Try and stay quiet, but you’re allowed,” he affirmed.  “You can’t be here long, just so you know.  First Aid and his sparkling need rest.”

The mention of it alone made the pair’s sparks pulse, passing him quickly to get into the room.  Still, they tried to be as quiet as possible.

First Aid was sitting on the repair berth inside, holding a bundle of metal-woven blankets.  It was quite large, the size of his own chestplate alone.  Inside was the silvery form of a sparkling, optics dimmed as it rested after their ordeal.  First Aid looked not too far behind them in that regard.  He looked to the door as the two miners entered, though, optics lighting up slightly at the sight.

“Circuit!  Axel!” he whispered in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”

“Ambulon called us asking if we’d be here for your sparkbirth,” Circuit explained lightly, kneeling down next to the berth.  “Is that…?”

First Aid tipped the bundle gently so they could both see.  He beamed at them, even with his faceplate snapped firmly closed.  “Appulse.  I’ve named it Appulse.”

“Frag, it’s just as big as I thought it’d be,” Axel whispered in awe.

“Axel!” Circuit hissed, smacking the smaller miner on the arm.

“I’m not saying it’s not cute,” Axel said, glaring at him.  “I’m just saying it’s fragging massive.  The little I know about sparkbirth, I’m surprised you’re still _conscious_ after pushing that thing out.”

“As much of a charmer as usual,” First Aid rolled his optics.  “And I’ll thank you to watch your language around Appulse from now on.  I don’t want them picking up on such bad habits.”

“He’ll work on it,” Circuit assured the medic before Axel could say anything he’d regret.

“Yeah, yeah,” the smaller miner gave in.  “Did everything go okay?  You’re both gonna be okay?”

The red and white mech nodded.  “We’ll both be just fine.”

Pharma, who had been silently updating their medical records with the information necessary about the sparkbirth, spoke up.  “For now.  We’ll still need to monitor the both of you for the next couple of weeks.  There are many things that could go wrong.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary to think about right now,” Ambulon whispered to him, moving over next to the miners.  “For the time being, let’s just be grateful that everything went smoothly.  Axel may be rude, but he’s not wrong.  Someone your size isn’t typically created to give sparkbirth to a sparkling that large.”

“What can I say?” First Aid said proudly, looking down at his bundle.  “They take after their sire.”

Pharma huffed, but didn’t say anything else.  Ambulon just shook his helm.  “Alright,” the former Decepticon whispered, “I’d say it’s time for you two to get out of here.”

“Aww, but we just got here,” Axel complained.  “Why’d you bother calling us if we can’t even stay any longer?”

“He’s going to be on creator leave for the next week,” Ambulon pointed out testily, gesturing to the door.  “You can visit him at his room during that.  I asked you to be here to show your support, and you’ve shown it.  We thank you, but First Aid needs his rest.”

Axel opened his mouth to say something else, but Circuit elbowed him.  “It’s alright, Ambulon is right.  We have plenty of time when he isn’t exhausted.”

The more ill-tempered miner closed his mouth and huffed.  “Fine.”  He left as asked, glaring at Ambulon the whole way out.

“Thanks for calling us,” Circuit said to Ambulon as he followed, smiling apologetically.

First Aid watched them go, waving with his free hand.  He then turned to Ambulon.  “It wouldn’t kill you to be nice to them,” he chastised.

“I called them to see you, didn’t I?” the former Decepticon insisted, walking over to him again.  He leaned over to see Appulse for himself again.  “I still can’t believe we’re looking at an actual naturally sparkborn sparkling.”

“I know,” First Aid exvented happily.

“Yes, yes,” Pharma said, finally getting up from the computer.  He breezed by them, opening the door for himself.  “Thrilling,” he added sarcastically.  “If you’ll excuse me.  I’ll take it you’re fine with monitoring them, Ambulon.”

“Of course,” Ambulon agreed, looking up at him.

“Good.  Some of us have to do actual work around here, especially since First Aid will be out the first week,” the flier sniffed.  He punched the button to close the door after himself testily.

First Aid vented in deeply, looking back to Ambulon.  “I think he’s even angrier now that I’ve actually given birth.”

“You can’t completely blame him.  Things are going to be harder without your help for the next week,” Ambulon shrugged, reaching over and gently taking Appulse from the new creator.  “Now, I wasn’t just giving an excuse to get rid of your friends.  You need to rest.  I’ll lay Appulse down safe while you recover.”

“Alright,” the younger medic agreed reluctantly, looking a bit distraught with his sparkling having been taken from him.  It was the creator protocols protesting, though he knew he could trust Ambulon.  Despite his past as a Decepticon, the older medic only meant well.  He lay back down completely on the berth.  Almost as soon as he did, his visor dimmed and he was recharging fast.  He was more exhausted than even he’d realized.

Ambulon shook his helm, half-smiling as he took Appulse over to the enclosed berth they’d set up for it.  The berth was surrounded by clear plastic, just in case Appulse somehow turned themself in its own recharge.  He placed them down softly, trying not to make too much noise.

When Appulse touched the berth, however, their optics lit up.  Something had woken it, though what it was exactly was hard to tell.  Ambulon held the air in his vents, not sure what would happen with it being awake and away from its creator.  Perhaps he expected it to cry.  Call out.

No, Appulse simply reset their optics, staring up at the painted medic.  Ambulon’s hands were still beside it, afraid to even move in case they decided to begin wailing for their creator.  The sparkling’s optics roamed the figure above it, likely not fully processing what they were seeing.  One of their little arms escaped the blanket, reaching next to them and grabbing one of Ambulon’s left servos.  As large as Appulse was, it shouldn’t have been too surprising that they already had at least that kind of motor function.  They didn’t do anything with the servo, simply held it between their tiny ones.

Ambulon could feel his spark swell at the feeling of the warm, malleable metal servos wrapped around his.  Appulse was more than just First Aid and Impactor’s sparkling.  He was a start.  The first new Cybertronian of the post-war age.  It had been so long since the war started – _four million years_ – that he almost didn’t even know how to feel about that.  Appulse wouldn’t grow up afraid that their home would become a warzone.  Wondering which of their friends they’d never see again whenever they were away from them.

This was something important.  Something precious.

Appulse was something to protect.

 

\-----

 

That first week with Appulse was one of the hardest First Aid had ever gone through.  He loved his sparkling more than anything, but raising a brand new one, especially of Appulse’s size, was tiring.  “You had to take after your sire, didn’t you?” the medic asked the little creature.  While being held, Appulse was nearly a fourth First Aid’s size even at its young age.  Still mostly silver, colors not completely in yet.  There were hints of gold and red that made First Aid excited, but they wouldn’t see them for sure yet.  They wouldn’t even know whether it was a mech or femme for a couple more days.

Appulse chirped at him, clinging to his shoulderplate while they drank from an energon bottle.

First Aid smiled despite his exhaustion, looking at the time.  20:05. Ambulon would have a fit at him if he knew the creator was up this late.  Not that he had much choice, as Appulse was constantly demanding attention until they were tired enough to finally lay down to recharge.  There was no reasoning with a sparkling.

Once Appulse’s colors came in and their gender coding was determined, First Aid was expected back at work.  He couldn’t leave Appulse alone, and there was no one to take care of them, so he’d still be on light duty while he kept Appulse close.  At least, until they were old enough to know not to interfere with the work around the clinic.  No one was completely sure how exactly he’d be able to watch Appulse and work at the same time, but he had to try.  Pharma’s continued insistence that they didn’t need to call for more help was becoming a hindrance to the smooth operation of Delphi.

Then again, the CMO would likely argue that everything was going perfectly smoothly before First Aid’s… accident.

A knock at the door made First Aid jump, nearly dislodging the bottle from his sparkling.  That wouldn’t have ended well, so he was grateful when he caught it and held it where Appulse could continue drinking from it.  Who would possibly be here at this time of night?

The young medic went to the door cautiously.  “Hello?” he called.

“First Aid?  It’s Ambulon.”

The red and white creator let out the vent he hadn’t realized he was holding in, opening the door.  “What do you need?” he asked the former Decepticon standing there.

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Ambulon said, crossing his arms over his chestplate.  “It’s far too late for you to be up, but I could see the light in the cracks of your door.”

First Aid huffed, though it wasn’t annoyed.  Rather amused.  “I’m alright, Ambulon.  I can’t recharge until Appulse is, though.  If you want to try getting them to recharge when they’re wide awake, though, be my guest.”

Ambulon gave a small smirk, reaching out and patting Appulse on the helm.  “Sorry,” he apologized.  “I don’t know what it must be like to raise a sparkling.  I was constructed, remember?  I was born as I am now.  I have no idea what starting this small entails.”

Appulse reached out to him before he could withdraw his arm.  First Aid chuckled.  “Looks like Appulse wants you to hold them.”

Ambulon looked quickly from the sparkling to its creator.  He swallowed a bit, pulling his arm back and rubbing his helm awkwardly.  “I… don’t know…” he muttered, unsure.

“Come on,” the younger medic encouraged, taking the bottle and holding Appulse out to the former Decepticon.  “It’s not like this is your first time holding them.”

Ambulon couldn’t argue with that.  Still, he hadn’t held them since they were born.  “Alright, if you think I should,” he finally said, reaching out and taking the sparkling.  It was smaller for him than for its creator, at least.

“Come on in,” First Aid said, smiling.  He moved out of the way of the painted orange medic.  “You shouldn’t just stand out there in the hallway holding them.”

Ambulon nodded, moving inside and walking over to the living area.  He sat on the couch there, watching Appulse warily.  The sparkling didn’t really do anything yet, simply watching him with their wide visor.  “How have you been holding up?” Ambulon asked, looking away from it and over to First Aid as the younger medic sat down in the seat across from him.

“Tired, mostly,” First Aid replied, though he still kept up his cheerful attitude.  “I’ve been looking up what I can about sparkling raising on the galactic net, but it’s such a rare occurrence to have one these days that there isn’t much to go on.  Most of it is millions of years old, and I don’t know how up-to-date the information is.  But luckily my creator protocols are helping me through most of it.  We’re pretty pre-programmed for this kind of thing, which makes me wonder why we let the government convince us this wasn’t something we should do.”

“I don’t think I want to talk about politics with an impressionable sparkling in the room,” Ambulon muttered, shifting said little creature in his hold and relaxing a bit more.  “I just hope you know that if you need any help, I’m right here.  I don’t want you to have to try raising them all by yourself.”

First Aid looked at him a bit surprised, but then smiled warmly.  “Thank you, Ambulon.  You have no idea how much that means to me.”  He then chuckled.  “I think you’re already helping, though.”  He pointed to the sparkling in his arms.

Ambulon looked back at Appulse and found them recharging, clinging to his shoulder.  His chestplate felt light, fluttering at the sight.  “I don’t understand…” he started.

“It’s because he feels safe with you,” First Aid said, standing back up and walking over.  He gently took Appulse and moved over to the recharge crib in the corner.  He placed the sparkling softly down inside, covering it with the mesh blanket inside.  He then moved back over to the couch, sitting next to Ambulon this time.  He placed a hand on the former Decepticon’s knee.  “Thank you for all of this, Ambulon.  I mean it.”

Ambulon looked from the hand there up to First Aid.  There was something strange in the way he looked at him, but he shook his helm.  “As long as you know I’m here, that’s all I ask.”  He put his hand on First Aid’s for a moment, then wrapped his servos around it and moved the younger medic’s hand over to his own lap.  “I need to head to recharge.  A lot of work without you.”

“I know,” First Aid nodded.  “I’m sorry about all this.”

“Don’t be.  It’s not your fault,” the former Decepticon assured him.  He stood up and headed for the door.  “Remember to recharge as well.  You need all the rest you can get with Appulse now.”

“I will.  Good night, Ambulon.”

 

\-----

 

A few days later, First Aid found himself sitting back at the front desk of Delphi.  Appulse sat in their – no, _his_ – playpen behind the desk.  At only a week old now, Appulse was still quite young.  He had a few toys Ambulon had picked up for him when he went out for supplies, currently banging a toy truck against the plastic walls of his tiny prison.

“A’yo, nurse!”

First Aid looked up from where he’d been watching his sparkling, watching his two favorite miners approach.  “Hello, Circuit, Axel,” he greeted, smiling brightly at them.

“How’re my two favorite mechs on Messatine?” Circuit asked, leaning on the side of the desk so he could see both of them.

“Hey!” Axel sounded offended by the disclusion.

“Hey, you’re a close third,” the taller miner grinned at him.

“I’ll remember this,” Axel glared at him.  He didn’t stop at the desk, instead moving right for the playpen and kneeling next to it.  “You like me, don’t you, Appulse?” he asked the sparkling contained inside.

Appulse looked up at him with a wide visor.  After a moment he made a grunting sound, throwing the toy truck he held.

“Primus!” Axel yelped as he found himself with a face full of colorful plastic.  He glared at the sparkling this time, who was clapping and laughing at him.  “I trusted you, kid.  That’s cold,” he huffed.

“Sorry about that,” First Aid said, though he couldn’t help chuckling.  He leaned over and picked Appulse up, putting him in his lap.  “He’s quite the handful.  Always moving even though he can’t walk yet.”

As if to prove his point, Appulse immediately grabbed the edge of the desk.  Even at his young age he managed to pull hard enough to move them both closer to it.  He took the stylus First Aid had been using and put it in his mouth.

“That can’t be sanitary,” Circuit laughed as First Aid took it from him.  “You’re not kidding, he just goes for what he wants, doesn’t he?”

“You have no idea,” the medic replied, picking up a cloth from the desk and wiping the oral lubricant from the stylus.  “By the way, what are you two doing here?  Shouldn’t you be working?  Especially since the foreman was so angry at you for abandoning your posts before.  Or at least so you said.”

“Yeah, we got suspended from work without pay for a couple weeks,” Axel grunted, annoyed.  “We’ve been keeping our helms down so he doesn’t outright fire us, but we couldn’t help but come see how you two are doing.”

“I’m so sorry!” First Aid yelped.  “I didn’t mean to get you in that much trouble!”

“No, it’s fine,” Circuit replied, stepping forward and taking Appulse when the red and black sparkling went for the datapad this time.  He held him over his helm for a moment, grinning at the squealing, squirming sparkling.  “Totally worth it for this little bitlet.”  He definitely looked the size he properly should have being held by the much larger miner, dwarfed in his arms.

“Speak for yourself,” Axel grunted, still rubbing his olfactory sensor.  “Quite the arm for a little mechling.”  He put the truck back in the playpen and moved over next to his partner.  “You’re gonna be a real fighter someday, aren’t you?” he asked the sparkling.

“I should hope not,” First Aid objected.  “The war is over.  There shouldn’t be any reason he should be fighting _anyone_.”

“Eh, war or not, there’s always people that need to get their afts kicked,” the shorter miner shrugged.

First Aid was about to reply, but the sound of pedes walking down the hall towards them caught his attention.  “Oh no, that might be Pharma,” he whispered.  He stood and took Appulse from Circuit.  “You should leave before he catches you here.  Go ahead, I’ll call you after work.”

“Right, don’t want _you_ getting in trouble, too,” Circuit agreed.  He patted Appulse on the helm and waved shortly to First Aid before jogging out of the facility.

“See ya, slugger,” Axel gave Appulse a mock-punch on the arm before following quickly.

First Aid ex-vented and smiled, sitting back down.  He pushed anything Appulse could grab hold of out of his reach, then picked the stylus up and went back to work with the sparkling there in his lap.

 

\-----

 

At two weeks old, Appulse was up and running around finally.  He was also starting to speak.  It was amazing how quickly he was learning everything, though with only three weeks to completely grow it wasn’t surprising.  The most amazing part was that he was already just short of his creator.

The playpen he’d been playing in behind the desk was replaced with a table in the corner of the front entrance.  The sparkling was currently building what looked like a small cityscape with some blocks Axel and Circuit had apparently pooled their shanix together to buy him.

While he worked on his project, a small group of miners filed in.  Most of them had limbs that looked like they went through a turbine shredder, with the others helping them.  Among them was the pair of miners themselves who had become a staple in their lives.

“Oh my goodness!” First Aid yelped, standing up at the desk and pressing a button on it.  “Pharma and Ambulon to the front entrance!  We have an emergency!” his vocals projected across the facility.  He then let go and rushed over.  “What happened?” he asked.

“One of the continuous mining machines suddenly started smoking,” a smaller mech spoke up at the front.  He was strange to see, dwarfed by all of the hulking miners around him.  “We were going to turn it off until the engineers could take a look at it, but as soon as Trommel got close… we don’t know what happened, it just exploded.”

First Aid looked to the mech he was referring to.  The miner was definitely the worst off.  He was in stasis lock, half his frame having been blown clear off.  If they worked fast they’d be able to save him, but he’d have to have priority.  “Okay, as soon as Pharma gets here he’ll lead you to the surgical ward,” he instructed.  “I’m going to need to know who else is critically injured!”

Appulse watched as the group of miners spread out across the reception area, helping each other get settled.  Pharma and Ambulon arrived before long, the CMO leading the two mechs carrying Trommel away while First Aid continued to register and sort all of the new patients.  The smaller mech with the miners was helping him as well, seeming extremely well organized.  Together with Ambulon they determined who needed immediate attention, those which did being directed to nearby rooms by Ambulon so he could work on them as soon as they were all sorted.  Pharma would be able to help Trommel, but First Aid and Ambulon would have to divide the rest of the work between themselves.

“Hey, kiddo,” Axel’s gruff vocals caught Appulse’s attention as he and Circuit made their way over to his desk and knelt next to it.  Axel had a piece of metal sticking out of his shoulderplate, and Circuit’s servos were missing on one of his hands.  A thick, metal-and-mesh towel was wrapped around it to stem the energon bleeding.  But neither seemed to bother them anywhere near as much as it should have.

“Hi, Axel,” Appulse replied, looking from him to his companion.  “Hi, Circuit.  Did a machine really blow up?”

“Yep,” Circuit affirmed seriously.  “It shouldn’t have, either.  There are a ton of failsafes to make sure something like that doesn’t happen.  Hopefully our engineers can find out why it did.”

“Don’t worry, though,” Axel grinned, putting a hand on Appulse’s helm.  “We’re miners.  We’re made to take a beating like that.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?” the mechling asked, pointing to Axel’s shoulder, then Circuit’s hand.

“Like the Pit itself,” Axel admitted unabashedly, patting said shoulder.  “But like I said, we’re built to endure.  We get hurt down there all the time, and we keep on bouncing back.”

“It makes me glad Red-Tape over there wasn’t too close,” Circuit added, nodding over to the smaller mech with First Aid.  “He wouldn’t have survived, I’m quite sure.”

To say Red-Tape was ‘smaller’ wasn’t completely true while he stood next to the medic.  He was actually quite tall and willowy, with a light yellow paintjob.  Stripes of mint green were painted across his arms and legs, as well as one side of his helm.  There was a surprising lack of red on someone called such a thing.

“Who is he?” Appulse asked curiously.  All he’d ever seen coming from the mines were the miners, no one as slight as Red-Tape.

“Administration,” Axel said with a grunt.  It wasn’t quite disgust, but definitely annoyance.  “His whole job is to make sure everything’s running smoothly in the nucleon mines.”

“He usually stays in his office,” Circuit picked it up.  “Every once in a while comes down into the mines to make sure everything’s going well up close and in person.  Go figure it’s the one day we have something like this happen.”

“Uh-oh,” Axel muttered, looking away quickly.  “He sees us.  He’s not coming over here, is he?”

“Both of them are,” Circuit answered, chuckling.  Once the pair were next to them, he stood back up.  “Hey, ‘Aid.  Red-Tape.”

“I should have known you two were caught in it as well,” First Aid ex-vented.  “I swear, you have the worst luck of anyone I know.”

“It’s not so bad,” Axel shrugged, then cringed.  “Okay, shouldn’t have done that…”

First Aid laughed.  “Everything’s going to be alright.  I’m going to be handling everyone with minor damage.  I reserved your usual room.”

“They have a usual room?” Red-Tape asked incredulously.  He was holding onto a datapad and stylus that were both a deep red.

“I told you they have terrible luck,” the medic chuckled.  He looked at Appulse.  “Can I trust you to behave if I send you with these two to wait with them?  I don’t want to leave you alone out here.”

“Yes, creator,” Appulse nodded, standing up as well.

“Good,” the red and white mech nodded, turning to help his patients.  “You three know the way.”

“Do you mind if I join you?” Red-Tape asked, jotting something down on his datapad.  “I wouldn’t mind seeing how such a large facility can run with only three medics.”

“It’s no problem with me,” First Aid replied, tilting his helm to the side.  “I don’t know what Pharma will think of it, but I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Red-Tape nodded and followed as the medic led him down the hall.

“Come on, kid,” Circuit nodded towards the opposite hall, where the room they usually got during their accidents (usually Axel’s) – 24-C was.  “What were you building?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Appulse shrugged, pulling up a chair between the two berths inside.  The miners sat on the repair berths.  “I wanted to make up a city.”

“What kind?” Axel encouraged.  It would whittle time away while they waited for their repairs.

“Just… a city,” Appulse looked self-conscious about it, looking at the floor.  “Creator’s showed me lots of pictures of cities on Cybertron.  He says when I’m old enough to be on my own I can go see them.  But for now we have to stay here in Delphi.”

“You don’t sound like you really _want_ to see cities,” Circuit pointed out.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” the sparkling shrugged again.  “Cities are okay, I guess.  I like looking at stuff with Wreckers in it.  Creator says I should learn about my sire before he comes back.  He doesn’t know when that will happen, but he says it’s just a matter of time.”

Circuit and Axel looked at each other.  “Kid, you know-” Axel started.

“He’s right,” Circuit cut across him before he could say something to discourage the red and black sparkling.  “Even if it takes him a long time, I’m sure Impactor will be back for you guys.  He’s your sire, which means it’s his job to be here for you.  To protect you from all the bad stuff out there.”

“Do you know where he went?” Appulse asked, looking up with only the faintest gleam of hope.  “Creator doesn’t know where he went, or why.  He just keeps saying he’ll be back.”

“Can’t say I know the answer to that,” Axel shook his helm, shooting a look at Circuit to stop him from interrupting this time.  “You’re the only sparkborn we’ve ever seen.  I wouldn’t know if this was normal or anything like that.”

Appulse ex-vented, looking back at the floor again.  After a moment, he said, “Until he comes back, I’m gonna protect creator.  He said I’m gonna get bigger by the time I’m a youngling, maybe as big as you guys.  And when that happens, I’m gonna learn how to fight so I can protect creator, and Ambulon, and…”  He trailed off a moment, looking uncomfortable.  “Am I a bad person if I don’t wanna protect Pharma?”

Circuit looked at him in surprise.  “Why wouldn’t you?” he asked.

“I don’t think Pharma likes me.  Whenever he looks at me, he always looks so… angry,” the tankling explained, looking at the door as if afraid Pharma would appear just from talking about him.

“I’m sure he’s just frustrated because there’s so few medics and too many patients,” Circuit reasoned.

“Yeah, I’m sure he _loves_ today, then,” Axel snickered, leaning back on the berth with his good arm.

 

\---

 

Pharma wanted to hate that day.  He couldn’t quite, though.  What luck was it that brought him someone to fill in the most recent demand from Tarn for a fresh transformation cog?  And someone already so damaged, brought in with plenty of mechs to keep First Aid and Ambulon busy while he worked singlehandedly on Trommel.

No one would ever question that Trommel had passed.  Sure, Pharma was an amazing surgeon, but could anyone blame him if he couldn’t save someone who was so close to offlining already?

“Poor, poor Trommel,” the flier ex-vented, leaning on the repair slab next to the damaged mech.  He’d partially repaired the engineer, just enough for it to look convincing that he had tried to save him.  He was hooked up to all the right machines, slowly feeding him what he needed to prolong his life long enough for Pharma to perform the surgery he was supposed to.  This would only lead to him dying slower, but if he euthanized Trommel himself they’d get suspicious.

Yes… that was it.

It wasn’t that Pharma was feeling a twinge of thrill, watching the pulsing line on the screen next to his patient slow as his life gradually drained from his huge frame.  Not that he had to watch the screen, since Trommel’s spark was exposed for monitoring during the surgery.  Every pulse from it grew a little dimmer.

“Shhhh…” Pharma murmured softly, sitting on the edge of the repair slab and reaching up to stroke Trommel’s helm.  The engineer twitched, no doubt responding to a ping from his internal warning systems that something was wrong.  “Everything is going to be just fine…” the flier continued, leaning over the body and whispering into his audial.  “Just a little while longer and it will be over.  You’re being so good…”  He snorted out a small laugh, realizing how ridiculous this would look to anyone observing.  He was trying to comfort someone he was _murdering_.  How funny was that?

Maybe he’d tell Tarn when the DJD leader came to acquire this one’s t-cog.  Tarn would think it was funny.  Perhaps he’d think it was so funny he’d give Pharma an extension on when he needed the next cog.  They were starting to get closer together.  If this kept up, the other two medics were going to get suspicious.

_‘You forgot to include First Aid’s brat again…’_

Pharma swore at that thought, pushing himself up.  This wasn’t funny anymore if he was going to start thinking of Appulse.  What was First Aid thinking, getting himself knocked up like that?  Didn’t he know how hard it was for Pharma to keep them all safe already?  Adding someone else to protect was just… it was just selfish!  Why didn’t he appreciate how hard Pharma was working to keep everyone safe?

“Oh, right,” the blue, red, and white medic scoffed.  “Because they don’t know.  If they found out about all of this they wouldn’t understand.  I’m just trying to protect everyone!”  He slammed a hand down on the slab next to Trommel’s helm.  “Why can’t they just understand that this is the only way to keep them safe?!” he demanded.

Trommel gave no answer.  His spark was almost completely snuffed out.  Not long now.

“You understand, don’t you?” Pharma asked his patient.  “This is all for the best.  Your life will be used to make sure no one else has to die.  Well, except the next person I have to kill to get their t-cog.”  There was a pause, where he looked away uncomfortably.  “I don’t like saying that out loud.  ‘Kill.’  It makes what I’m doing seem so… _wrong_.”  He thought a moment and tapped his chin.  “There has to be a better word for this.  ‘Sacrifice?’  Yes, that sounds good.  Except the next person I have to sacrifice to get their t-cog.  That’s much more acceptable.”

Pharma stopped his tangent and looked at the monitor.  The line on it was no longer pulsing.  He then looked to Trommel’s chestplate.  His spark was completely out, his colors fading as he finally was put to rest.

“Well,” Pharma sniffed, standing up.  “I see how it is.  Dying in the middle of my talking.  Rude.  Well, no matter.  Time to report this unfortunately unsuccessful surgery to the others.  Your sacrifice won’t be in vain, Trommel.”  As he brought up the frequency for Ambulon, he smiled to himself.  “Yes, ‘sacrifice.’  That sounds perfect.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Appulse's first day out of sparklinghood arrives. As their present, Circuit and Axel take him into the mines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait for this one, everyone! I hit major writer's block halfway through.
> 
> I'd love to say I'm gonna stop with the OCs, but... I'm not. We didn't get to meet too many people on Messatine, so I get to make tons of OCs to fill in. I'm falling in love with every one of them.

“Hey, Ambulon!”

The orange-painted medic looked up from his charts, turning to the half-Wrecker approaching him.  Appulse didn’t usually disturb Ambulon while he was working, but he knew why he was this time.  He was amazed at how big Appulse was now, just under the height of most of the miners.  He towered over the medics, though not in an intimidating way.

“Good morning, Appulse,” The medic greeted, putting the charts to the side.  “You’re in early.  Is your creator at the desk, then?”

“Yeah,” Appulse nodded and paused.  He looked at Ambulon expectantly, receiving a raised optic ridge in response.  When nothing else came from the former Decepticon, he reset his vocals.  “So… big day today,” he said.

“Oh, really?” Ambulon asked, suppressing a knowing smirk.

“Yep.  I mean, big for me.  Huge, even.”  When Ambulon continued to give him a questioning look, his faceplate fell.  “Aw, come on… Don’t tell me you forgot!” he said desperately.  “I came into my youngling-hood today!”

“You don’t say?” Ambulon continued to play ignorant.  “That _is_ important.”  He reached behind himself and pulled a datapad from the bottom of the stack of charts.  “I knew there had to be a reason I went and bought this.”  He held it out to the youngling.

Appulse’s faceplate lit up, taking the datapad and turning it on.  He practically jumped in place, something cute for such a large mech.  “You got me my own copy of _Wreckers: Declassified_?!” he said excitedly.

“Hey, you’re getting your own room and space,” Ambulon finally smirked.  “I figured you should probably stop using First Aid’s stuff, too.”

“You’re the best, Ambulon!” Appulse exclaimed excitedly.  He scooped the smaller mech up into a crushing hug.

“Yeah, thanks,” Ambulon managed as the air was forced out of his vents.  He patted Appulse on the arm and vented in deep when he was finally put back on the ground.  The strength to go with that huge frame was definitely there.  “Now, get out of here before Pharma catches you distracting me,” he added when he recovered.  He turned Appulse around and tapped him on the back to send him on his way.

When Appulse was gone, Ambulon picked up his work and went back to it.  Though now his mind kept wandering back to the youngling and his creator.  He had hesitated when he bought the copy of _Wreckers: Declassified_.  He didn’t want to indulge Appulse’s Wreckers side.  Didn’t want to spur on the delusion that Impactor would be returning to them.  But First Aid and Appulse were always so hopeful that it was going to happen.

Ambulon couldn’t help but sometimes wonder what would happen if Impactor _did_ come back for them.  Would he stay on Messatine?  Doubtful, as no one who worked there pre-war had good things to say about it.  So perhaps he would ask them to go with him.  Ambulon wanted to think first Aid would think about it, but he wouldn’t.  He’d jump at the chance to be with the mech who sired his youngling.  It made his spark hurt, thinking of First Aid abandoning them for one mech.

The medic shook the thought out of his helm, though.  There was no point in dwelling on maybes and could-bes.  He had work to do.

 

\---

 

First Aid was allowed to return to actually working now that Appulse was in his younglinghood, but that day he was still assigned to the reception desk.  With so few mechs working there, he shared the duty with Ambulon.  He was currently going through the files of the patients they’d lost recently.  He was growing more concerned, especially since Trommel’s death the previous week.  He was the last patient they lost.  On the surface, nothing seemed to be wrong.  Everything in Pharma’s report about him checked out.  But something about it still didn’t feel right to the younger medic.

It was especially bringing up concerns for First Aid after he sat down and talked to Red-Tape.  The mining administrator was monitoring the investigation into the faulty continuous mining machine.  As far as they could tell, nothing should have been wrong with it.  All of the parts showed no sign of either wear or tampering.

“Hey, creator!” Appulse came running up to the desk, holding out a datapad.  “Could you hold onto my present from Ambulon while I go visit Axel and Circuit?”

“What do we say?” First Aid asked, not taking it yet.

Appulse rolled his optics behind his visor.  “ _Pleeease_?” he stretched the word out as he leaned forward.

“No need to be a smartaft,” the medic scolded, though he still smiled.  He reached out and took the datapad.

“I’ll stop being a smartaft when you stop treating me like a sparkling,” his youngling grinned back.

“Hmm, somehow I don’t believe that for a second.  You’re one day into your younglinghood, and you think you’re all grown up.”  First Aid looked up at him and softened, putting the datapad to the side.  “I still don’t like you going to the mines.  Especially after that accident last week.”

“Don’t worry, creator,” Appulse assured him.  “I’ll stay with Axel and Circuit, I promise.  They won’t let me near any of the dangerous stuff anyway.”

First Aid exvented, knowing he was right.  “Alright, get out of here, then.  Don’t keep them waiting.”  He watched Appulse turn and run out then glanced at the datapad he’d taken from the youngling.  He picked it up and powered it on.  The title _Wreckers: Declassified_ appeared before him.  He smiled again behind his mask, running his servos across the screen until a familiar passage appeared.  A disgruntled Impactor looked back at him.  “Our little Appulse is a youngling now, Impactor,” he whispered to the image.  “He looks so much like you.  Is as fearless, too.  I wish you could see him.”

The sound of pedes clanking down the hall caused First Aid to snap out of his daze, looking up and spotting Pharma.  The CMO wasn’t paying attention, so he quickly reset the datapad to its title screen before turning it off and putting it in a drawer.  He quickly shuffled the paperwork he’d been working on before.

The flier finally looked up as he approached the front desk.  “First Aid, I have some business I must conduct offsite.  Only contact me if there are any emergencies that come up,” he instructed.

“Yes, Pharma,” First Aid nodded.

Considering that business finished, Pharma turned and left through the front doors.  He had been doing that a lot lately.  Conducting ‘business’ offsite.  First Aid wasn’t sure who he was meeting or why, but he _was_ sure it had to have something to do with his odd behavior lately.

Maybe one day First Aid would be brave enough to follow him.

 

\-----

 

“Hey, Appulse!” Axel waved the youngling over, standing at the entrance to the mines with Circuit.  The taller mech was holding a box in his servos.

“Yo, Axel!  Hey, Circuit!” Appulse called back, jogging over.  He looked between them, then at the box.  “What’s that?  I thought my present was getting to help in the mines.”  He bounced from one pede to the other in a bit of excitement.  He was Axel’s height now, just under Circuit like the other miner.

“This, my freshly upgraded youngling, is what you’re going to need if you don’t want Red-Tape to come out and give you a verbal thrashing,” Circuit winked, handing him the box.

Appulse opened it and found the black and yellow striped reflective decals that all of the miners wore.  “Oh, sweet!” he enthused, pulling it out.  “It’ll make me look official!”  He held the chestplate one in front of himself, grinning.

“Alright, we need to get you all decked out,” Axel laughed, taking it from him and removing the backing from the adhesive.  “Stand still, it looks ridiculous if it bubbles.”

After a few minutes of applying, smoothing, removing, and reapplying, they managed to get the decals all applied to his chestplate, shoulders, and arms.  “These are important, so don’t lose them,” Circuit told him as he patted the decal on his own chestplate.  “Most of us just keep them on at all times, but you’ll probably want to take them off sometimes.  In that case, you’ll want to hold onto the backing and carefully-”

Axel cut him off, “That’s all just really unnecessary, complicated, and time-consuming.  Just keep the fragging details on.  If we’re gonna teach you to be a proper mining-bot, you’ll need them anyway.”

Circuit opened his mouth then closed it, exventing.  “He’s not wrong, but that means I’ll have to teach you to properly clean them while you’re wearing them.”

“Can you show me that later?” Appulse asked, rolling his optics.  “I wanna see the mines!”

“You really are a youngling,” Axel laughed, slapping him on the back.  “Come on, we’ll show you where we check in, first.  You need to be checked in as a guest, anyway.”

Appulse followed them to the building just outside of the mine entrance, watching Axel and Circuit both put their hands on a screen on the counter.  They didn’t actually go into the building; instead, there was a hole where a mech was sitting at a computer.  He wasn’t actually paying attention, instead reading over a datapad casually while leaning back in his chair.  He was average sized, about the same armor density of Ambulon.  He was a flier, with a surprisingly nice pink and purple paint job.  It didn’t appear he worked inside the mines themselves.  Between him and Red-Tape, Appulse was starting to suspect everyone in the administration part of the job was much smaller than the miners.

“Come on, put your hand here,” Circuit instructed, pointing to the screen.

Appulse did as he was told, the screen passing light over his servos.  After a moment it buzzed and turned red.

The mech behind the counter finally looked up from his datapad.  He raised an optic ridge at Appulse, who reset his vocals awkwardly.  “Hi,” he said, raising the hand he tried to scan.

“He’s with us, Timestamp,” Circuit told him.  “We were approved by Red-Tape.”

The mech exvented, likely because he now actually had to do his job, and sat up.  He tapped at the computer there for a moment, then asked, “Appulse?”

“That’s me,” the youngling said uncomfortably.

After another moment Timestamp finally said, “Alright, put your hand on the screen again.”

Appulse did as he was told, holding it there until the light was done scanning.  It took longer than the first time, but he did his best to stay still.

“Alright, now you’re in the system.  Being as you’re still in your younglinghood, the computer will only approve you to go in if you’re with an approved guardian.  We’ll let you through without it this time, but we’ll need your creators to contact Red-Tape to give authorization to classify someone as your guardian while you’re in the mines,” Timestamp announced.  “We got all that?” he aimed that question more at Axel and Circuit.

“Crystal clear,” Axel gave a thumbs-up, grinning goofily at him.

There was a bit of a pause while the pink mech stared at him until Timestamp rolled his optics and picked his datapad up, leaning back in his chair again.

Axel relaxed, looking slightly defeated.  Circuit gestured sharply to Timestamp, who wasn’t paying attention.  He nodded.  Axel shook his helm as Appulse watched this silent exchange in confusion.  When Circuit nodded sharper this time, Axel rolled his optics and approached the window again.  “Hey, Timestamp, I was just wondering…” he started.

Timestamp looked up from his datapad in annoyance.  “Is there a problem _already_?” he asked huffily.

“Uh… no, I just…” Axel, who was usually pretty smooth if crass, suddenly seemed nervous.  “I was just wondering… I mean… if you’re not…”

Timestamp raised an optic ridge, watching him.

“N-never mind, it’s nothing important,” Axel backed away.  “Sorry to bother you.”

Timestamp watched them and shrugged, going back to whatever he was reading.

As they were walking towards the mine entrance, Appulse looked back towards the building then at Circuit.  “What the pit was that all about?” he asked.

“Axel’s just got it for…” the taller miner started answering.

“Nothing!” the subject of their discussion cut in, faceplate tinted slightly.  “Absolutely nothing.  It’s… grown-up stuff.  You won’t understand yet, kid.”

Circuit started laughing, and Appulse looked between them, but it appeared there wasn’t an answer to be found here.

 

\---

 

Three hours later, Appulse followed the pair back through the mine for their break.  That marked the end of his own time in there, as their supervisor didn’t want them to be distracted watching a youngling for too long.  For his part, Appulse was picking up on how it worked pretty quickly.  Likely, it was in his coding because of his sire.

As they made their way to the surface, though, he was distracted by something on the ground.  It was buried in some rubble, just exposed enough for the gleam of the mineshaft lighting to catch his optic.  He stopped and bent down, picking it up.  It was a small piece of metal, no bigger than the tip of a servo.

“What’ve you got, there?” Axel asked, leaning over his shoulder.  Circuit, in turn, towered over both of them to see.

“I don’t know,” the red and black youngling admitted, turning it over in his servos.  “Just… a little piece of something, I guess.  It was under the rocks here.”

Circuit held out a hand, taking it and holding it up to the light.  “This looks like a piece of…”  He suddenly froze, looking at the flat end of it.  There was a marking on it, so small Appulse didn’t notice it at first.  “Oh, frag…” he muttered, looking up at the tunnel they were next to.

Axel looked as well, venting in sharply.  “No way!” he managed, turning on a torch-beam from a light on his wrist.  He shined it down the dark mining tunnel.

Appulse looked around the entrance to it, noticing a TUNNEL CLOSED sign down a ways on its side.  “What’s down here?” he asked.

Circuit walked in just enough to get the sign, bringing it back and setting it on the ground in front of the tunnel.  “This is the tunnel the continuous mining machine blew up down.  No one’s supposed to go in.  They’ve taken precautions to brace it, but the stability is still questionable,” he answered.  He looked back to the metal piece in his hand.  “We need to go show this to Red-Tape.”

“I’d usually ask you if we have to, but this is serious,” Axel agreed.  “Come on, kid, they’ll wanna ask you some questions.”

Appulse nodded, following in confusion.

The next thing the youngling knew he was standing in a room with Axel, Circuit, First Aid, Red-Tape, and three other mechs.  Two of them were heavily armored. 

One was Axel and Circuit’s supervisor, Stockwork.  He had a generic mining frame, not bothering to do anything to make it very distinguished.  Appulse met him briefly during his tour of the mine.  He didn’t seem too bad, though he was pretty no-nonsense.  It made sense, as the job they did was dangerous. 

The other large mech was Rockfall.  He was a huge green and grey mech that transformed into a hydraulic jack.  His primary use in that mode was bracing the ceiling of mines to when they’ve been structurally compromised until they can put in permanent beams.

The last one was Flyrock, who despite being much smaller than Rockfall was actually his brother.  He was a darker green and white flier, with a blue visor he kept pushed up on top of his helm.  He and his brother were the mine’s Safety Officers.  They ran a tight ship and were responsible for the full investigation of the accident a week previous.

“Now,” Red-Tape said, powering up the computer at his desk.  “Please recount exactly what happened.”

“There’s not really much to tell,” Appulse said, feeling self-conscious with all of these mechs staring at him.  He rubbed the back of his neck, trying not to look at any of them.  Especially not First Aid, who he was sure was never letting him back in the mine after this.  “Axel and Circuit were showing me around the mine and what they do.  When it was break time, they started leading the way out because these mines are a fragging maze.”

“Appulse!” First Aid exclaimed in exasperation.  “Language!”

“Sorry,” the youngling muttered, embarrassed that he was just called out like that in front of all these strangers.  “Anyway, we were just passing by this one mineshaft and-”

“Mining tunnel,” Circuit corrected.  “Shafts go up and down, tunnels go in.”

“Right, we were passing by this mining tunnel, and I just kinda… noticed something on the ground.  I don’t know why it just caught my optic,” Appulse continued.  “So I stopped and picked it up, and it was that… little piece of metal you see there.”  He gestured to the metal piece that was currently sitting on Red-Tape’s desk.  “I didn’t know what it was, so I handed it to Circuit.  He and Axel looked down the minesh- I mean mining tunnel, and there was a sign down there that said it was supposed to be closed.  It was on its side, so Circuit went in and got it and put it up.  And then they took me here.”

“As soon as he handed it to me I found the serial number on it,” Circuit spoke up.  “That came from a continuous mining machine.  The fact that it was outside the tunnel the one that exploded was in can’t be a coincidence.  I don’t think the fact that the sign wasn’t in its place was either.”

“Every miner that works on Messatine knows how important it is for those signs to be visible,” Axel agreed.  “And it was too far down the tunnel for it to have just been accidentally knocked over.”

“We looked over the security footage on that tunnel,” Flyrock spoke up.  He pulled a datapad he’d been holding under his arm up, tapping at it quickly.  “I can’t believe we were so careless that we didn’t notice _this_ discrepancy in it.”

The flier turned the datapad around so everyone could see it.  Two security cameras were shown.  One was of the tunnel the machine exploded in, Tunnel 18.  The other camera was the one next to it, Tunnel 17.  They watched as Circuit, Axel, and Appulse walked on-camera past Tunnel 17, chatting.  As they walked off-camera, everyone’s attention turned to the one outside of Tunnel 18.  The first thing Appulse noticed wasn’t even that they weren’t walking into the camera view.

“Hey, the sign’s still up!” the youngling exclaimed, pointing to it.

Sure enough, the TUNNEL CLOSED sign was clearly shown exactly where Circuit had placed it after they discovered the problem.

“And no one’s walking on-camera either,” Stockwork muttered, watching closely.  The timestamps on the cameras matched each other, but it seemed like a freeze-frame.

“Exactly,” Flyrock nodded.  “And this is what happens when you add in the one for Tunnel 19.”  He swiped his servo across the screen, a camera with that tunnel appearing on it.  A few seconds passed before Circuit, Axel, and Appulse rushed by.  Circuit’s servos were clutched around something, likely the metal piece.

Rockfall spoke up, tapping the screen carefully.  “Someone sabotaged the security cameras so we wouldn’t see that someone’s been down that tunnel.  Who or why we don’t know.”

“Our best guess is that it’s our saboteur,” Flyrock said.  “Or at least someone who is working with him.  Why they needed to go down there, I’m not sure.  Maybe they were looking for any evidence that could point to whoever caused this.”

“If it wasn’t for Appulse here stumbling on that piece, who knows how long it would’ve taken for us to even notice that something was wrong?” Red-Tape praised.  “Someone would’ve eventually noticed the discrepancy in the cameras, but the culprits may have been long gone by then.”

“How did you even see that?” First Aid asked, clearly proud.

“I dunno,” Appulse shrugged, feeling embarrassed again.  He was one day into his younglinghood, and he was already the center of attention.  He didn’t know if he liked it.  “It just… like I said, it caught my optic.”

“I think that’s the medic in his coding,” Circuit smiled, slapping his shoulderplate.  “Gives you a real optic for detail, doesn’t it?”

“At any rate, we thank you for noticing this,” Red-Tape said, gesturing to the piece of machinery.  “Perhaps it ended up outside of the tunnel simply by attaching to someone’s armor as they were evacuating.  Or perhaps it was dropped by the culprit.  Whichever it is, it led us to more leads to investigate.”

“He didn’t cause any trouble and inadvertently helped us investigate our non-accident,” Stockwork spoke up.  “Appulse is welcome to help Axel and Circuit whenever he’d like, with your permission, First Aid.”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” the medic said quietly.  “With a saboteur still on the loose, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him being down here.  Perhaps when whoever did this is caught.  Or at least there’s evidence they’ve moved on.”

“Fair enough,” Red-Tape nodded.  “You’re all dismissed while I speak to Rockfall, Flyrock, and Stockwork.”

“Right, we’ll be going then,” First Aid nodded.  “Come, Appulse.”

“Coming,” the youngling called, following quickly.  He didn’t like that First Aid was banning him from the mines after this, but he supposed it was only fair.  He really had enjoyed it, though, and it was way more exciting than hanging out around Delphi now that he outgrew his toys.

Axel and Circuit hurried to catch up, the shorter miner throwing an arm around Appulse’s shoulderplates.  “I can’t believe you actually spotted something that small, kid!  That’s some optics you’ve got!” he laughed.

“It was definitely a stroke of pure luck,” Circuit nodded.  “Are you sure he can’t join us down in the mines?” he asked First Aid.  “We’d do our best to keep him safe.”

“Yeah, we won’t let anything happen to him!” Axel agreed, punching Appulse in the arm.  “We’ll even keep him away from all the big equipment, just to be safe.”

Appulse couldn’t believe they were speaking up for him.  It made him hopeful that First Aid would agree, though.

“Hmm…” the red and white medic let out an unsure hum.  He stopped and looked between the three.  From Circuit’s calm, assuring look, to Appulse’s excited and hopeful one, and finally Axel’s cheerful grin.  He finally exvented.  “Fine, but only _every once in a while_.  And I want him to check in with me periodically when he does go down there.  He may be big, but he’s still just a youngling.”

“I will, I promise!” Appulse said quickly.  “And like I said today, I’ll always stay near Circuit and Axel.  No wandering the mines on my own, cross my spark.”  He ran his servo across his chestplate twice to emphasize it.

First Aid relaxed, chuckling.  “Alright, alright.  I’d rather have you doing something than sit around bored.  Once a week you can come down into the mines.”

“Yes!” Appulse picked his creator up, hugging him tightly.  “Thanks, creator!  I promise I won’t mess it up!”

“I believe you, I believe you!” First Aid laughed, hugging his youngling’s neck in return.  “And I’m trusting you two,” he said to Axel and Circuit as soon as he was placed back on the ground.  “You’ve been nothing but kind to me since we met, and a good influence for Appulse.  Most of the time.”

“The ‘most of the time’ is all Axel,” Circuit teased, pointing to the shorter miner.  “I’m always good.”

“Hey!” Axel huffed, hands on his hips.

“He’s not wrong, Axel,” Appulse laughed.  “All my bad habits I got from you.”

“I heard him swearing in there,” First Aid added.  “No one I know swears as much as you do.”

“Alright, alright,” Axel threw his hands in the air.  “I concede, I’m a bad influence.”


End file.
